Fall Color Photos

Here are my top 8 picks of the Fall Color Photo contest.

Terry

Winter Fly Fishing Outing Dec 2012

Dan and I had a great time down at the Winter Outing of the Heart of America Fly Fishers held anually at Bennett Spring State Park. We stayed at Sand Spring Resort as usual and fished the park Saturday and Sunday, and then with the awesome 70 degree weather, we canoed the Niangua on Monday. We were on the River from Fort Niangua to Sand Spring. The club outing had their usual stream-side lunch up by the spring on Saturday (chili, hot dogs, etc) and then the banquet that evening up at Ollies. The fishing in the park seemed a little slower than usual to us but we caught quite a few trout, and of course it's catch & release in the winter time. Best flies seemed to be midges along woolleys and some nymphs. The weather was so great that we only needed a light long sleeve shirt from morning to night (not bad for December!). They were also doing construction in the park below the dam to improve access and provide for wheelchair fishing. In the river, we caught a couple of rainbow trout but mostly smallmouth bass. Best fly here was definitely the black woolley. What a great time to be all by ourselves on the river. Here are a few pictures from the trip, or for the complete album, click on this link:

Click here for the complete album

Terry

HOAFF Club Lunch 

 Whistle Bridge

 Rainbow Trout in Park

 Park Bridge and Dam

 Starting Canoe trip at Fort Niangua

 Beautiful Niangua River bluffs

Nice Smallmouth Bass by Dan

Inexpensive Real Christmas Trees

Check out this very inexpensive way to get a real and native Christmas tree through a great Johnson County program. It’s the Kansas City Wildlands annual Red Cedar Christmas Tree Day. For a minimum donation of $15, you can cut down your own Christmas tree out at Shawnee Mission Park. It's on Saturday, December 8th from 10 to 3 up at the Theatre in the Park entrance. These are the local Red Cedar trees that you see out in the woods around town. In addition to that, they are offering free recycling of these and other real trees at the park from December 26th to January 30th. And they use them to improve the fishing habitat (and you know I like that!). Check out more information at:

http://jcprd.com/apps/news/specific_record_enewsletter.cfm?id=2649

Amazing Sportsman Publications

You won't believe the stuff my sportsman friend Bruce Cochran does, including
illustrations, cartoons, and books. He's been published numerous places. Check out his web
site to see what he's done.  And if you're interested, you can even buy an illustraction,
cards, or even humor books on-line. Let me know what you think.

http://cochranscartoons.com/

Terry

Spotlight on Coffee

Looking for some gormet coffee or tea? Check out Mike's Coffee Club.

Ozark Fly Fishing 10-22-2012

Trip Summary: Dan and I had a very enjoyable fly fishing trip last week to the Ozarks. We
were able to fish several places in 4 cool water streams, mostly for rainbow and brown
trout. This included 4 days at Taneycomo, White River (below Bull Shoals Dam), Norfork
tailwater, and the North Fork of the White River. It was all wade fishing, and we had to be
very flexible, as the water release predictions were way off, making us change plans
several times a day (once they release a huge amount of water, we can no longer wade
fish). The weather was actually very nice, and we hit that cold front on the way home which
dropped the temperature 30 degrees. See more technical detail below these pictures. Her is a link to all of the trip pictures if you're interested:

Click here to see all the pictures

Terry

 

Detailed Report (for you die hards). Dan and I stopped at Taney on the way down on Monday, as they had predicted no generation all day. Well, as we both stepped into the stream, you guessed it, the siren went off. Fished a little bit but did no good. So we went on down to Mountain Home, and stayed at the Comfort Inn. The next day they had shut off Bull Shoals at midnight so decided to try the dam area. Water level was down but we didn't manage to catch any fish (although Dan had one on to the backing). We moved on down to the state park area and caught tons of fish. Then we ate lunch in the park and then on to the new parking lot at the Narrows. We did okay there and caught some fish, and then called it a day. The next morning they were running at Bull Shoals, so we went to the Norfork dam, as they had turned it off this morning. We did very well there, and I even caught a white bass. We checked out the pipe for minimum flow (see separate video) which they were currently working on. Also checked out dry run creek. Then when they turned on water there, we decided to leave and try the North Fork River up above the lake. We went to Patrick bridge and saw a beautiful area and no other fisherman. Quite spectacular. We found a spot there where we caught a 15" rainbow, 16" brown, and a 19" brown, along with a few other trout and suckers. We think we'll be going back there some more. Then we called it a night and drove to Springfield in hopes of fishing Taney the next morning. We had a not-too-pleasant stay at a Super 8 but were able to fish Taney about 3 hours before they sounded the horn. We did very well there, in particular at the lower end. We tried a large number of flies on this trip, but I think we caught the most on little midges (in particular the zebra midge 20), and also good luck on sow bugs, scuds, prince nymph; and a little on Woolleys, soft hackle, bedspread, and egg pattern.

Trout Stocking Shawnee Mission Park

The kids really love seeing the park service stock the lake with rainbow. trout, and even get to touch the fish. The stocking this year at Shawnee Mission Park will be Wednesday, October 24^th at the boat ramp around 3:45 p.m. If you’re able to take the kids, I’m sure they would enjoy it. They’ll be stocking about 1,400 pounds of fish. After the stocking, the lake is closed for fishing until that Saturday at 5:00 a.m.  For more information, check out:

 

http://jcprd.com/apps/news/specific_record_info.cfm?id=2588

 

Mill Creek Streamway Trail

I wanted to share one of my favorite parks in western Johnson County, which doesn’t get its due share of visibility. I’m always surprised how many people have not heard of it or not used it before. It’s the Mill Creek Streamway Park & Trail. Check out my video with help from my friend Lisa.

 

 

 

Preferred Vendor - Mortgage Loan Officer

Want to consider re-financing? Or maybe thinking about a purchase? Check out one of my Preferred Vendors down at Advance Mortgage, Steve Reid.

Testimonial Vandegrifts

Testimonial from the Vandegrifts purchase in Gardner.

Louisburg Cider Mill

It's always fun to go down to the Louisburg Cider Mill and enjoy some apple cider doughnuts (YumYum). This is located down 69 highway just west of Louisburg about 3 miles. It was wet enough today that the pumpkin patch wasn't open, but the store and the mill were. We "had" to buy a dozen doughnuts to bring home and the cider is always good this time of year. They also brew their own Lost Trail Root Beer. They have been picked as one of the top 10 Cider Mills in the country. Today they were processing apples and making cider while we were there. They're open 7 days a week. Check out their web site at:

http://www.louisburgcidermill.com/

Nathan & Echo New Home

I wanted to say how much I enjoyed working with Echo and Nathan in the search for their first home. It’s a great home that I know they will enjoy for a long time. Congratulations!

 

 

 

 

 

Canine Costume Contest & Parade

This is the 3rd annual Canine Costume Contest and Parade, hosted by Johnson County Parks and Rec. As you parade your pup, they will be eligible for prizes, including most creative costume, cutest, scariest, most unusual, and best duo. It is a 60 minute session at 11 a.m. at the Shawnee Mission Park marina, $5 per dog. For more information, call 913-826-3160.

Fall Foliage Foto Contest

I wanted to do something fun and I always enjoy good fall color shots, so I decided to have my own contest for the best photo (that you take yourself this year). Go ahead and email them to me at trobbins@cba4u.com .  I'll decide after December 1st what I think is the best one and award a $25 gift card to that person. I'm also looking to see what spots in town that you think are the best overall for fall colors. My opinion is the that the best spot is Weston Bend State Park, just south of the town of Weston up in Platte County, northwest of Platte City. I also like the Mill Creak Streamway in western Johnson County and the Overland Park Arboretum around 179th & 69 Highway. What do you think??

Terry

 Weston Bend State Park

 

 

 Mill Creek Streamway Trail

 

 

Overland Park Arboretum

 

Shawnee Octoberfest Friday Night

Looking for something different to do this Friday night?? How about Octoberfest at the Shawnee Civic Center at Johnson Drive and Pflumm? Admission is free and it runs from 5:30 - 11:00 p.m. They'll have the Alpen Spielers German Polka Band along with the Blautaler Schuhplatter dancers of Kansas City. It's intended for the whole family with games for the kids and a moonwalk, German food and drinks, and a charity raffle.

For more information, go to:  Click here for more info

Wallyball fun September 2012

I just love playing Wallyball (Volleyball inside a racquetball court). If you're not familiar with the sport, take a quick peak at one of our games.

How to Lower Your Home Energy Bill By Changing Your Light Bulbs

How to Lower Your Home Energy Bill By Changing Your Light Bulbs

Testimonial - Daws purchase in Lenexa

Congratulations to Matt & Chrystal for the purchase of their first home in Lenexa.

Private Olathe Pond Fly Fishing 9-21-2012

Ray and I had a good time checking out a nice, private pond in Olathe, where the water level was quite low. We really weren't sure how the fishing would be at this low level. The weather was pretty pleasant and even a little cool with a breeze, which is rather welcome after this crazy summer. We had no luck using top water poppers or Jacomo fly but the olive woolleys seemed to work. The catch rate was pretty slow but we got several nice 16 inch largemouth bass and a few medium sized blue gill (4 - 6 inches). We probably caught about a dozen fish. After Ray left, I tried the small pond in back where the fish were more active. I probably caught 20 fish but all were a little smaller than the bigger pond. All in all, a very pleasant way to spend a Friday morning.

Terry

In addtion to the pictures below, there are some more at:  Complete Slide Show

and a short video: